Wide Awake
by Restless-sleeper
Summary: This story is set from the end of the second book, Linger. I only own the character Annabelle who is my original character. Annabelle has moved to Mercy Falls to start over. She moves next to a boy Sam who has a strange mix of roommates. He is sure that there is something strange about her and he's determined to find out what it is.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

After driving through miles of trees and wintery snow; I was confronted with small, beat up houses. I wound down the window a little to feel the cool winter breeze against my face. I sighed feeling and closed my eyes. This was going to be a fresh start. I could sense it. I inhaled slowly and put the window back up.

We drove through what I guessed was the main street, passing cafes, bookshops and small stores. We turned down a road to the left and after another 5 minutes of passing small houses and flats; we stopped.

I paid the cab driver for the lift and got out of the car grabbing the one small bag of luggage I had brought with me. I walked up the front path of the house before stopping halfway to the front door before stopping to look up at the house. It was slightly bigger than all the other houses I've seen her and had a less eerie feel to it. It looked like it had lived in and that was slightly reassuring.

I continued toward the door pulling the key out of my pocket. I clicked the lock open and threw my bag inside the hallway. I was about to follow it in when something caught my eye. I looked over at the house next door and saw a boy looking at me from the front yard. He caught my gaze and flinched, stating to head back to his house. I waved at him and went inside.

The image of his eyes was flashing in my mind. They were yellow and piercing. I had never seen anything like it before. There was something mysterious yet scary about those eyes. From that second that I held their gaze, I saw many things. Those eyes had seen a lot of things; bad and good. He was different to the other people in this town.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A howl from outside woke me up. I drowsily sat up in my bed and turned on the lamp beside me. It was 3' o clock. Why the hell was I awake? Oh yeah, my new neighbours decided they would help me out by howling in the middle of the night. I groaned and lay back down, leaving on the light.

I sat there for a minute before I realised there was no way I was going back to sleep. I got out of bed and headed outside to see what had got my new friends so stirred up. I pulled on a loose fitting jumper and walked out into the cool winter breeze that filled my backyard. I shivered slightly and clutched my arms. My stomach let out a small growl, but I dismissed it immediately.

I walked right up to the fence separating my backyard to Boundary Woods. I peered out into the darkness and spotted two small black figures in the distance. Wolves. I could tell by the way they sat. Waiting, watching, hoping. Their heads turned to the left catching the sound of a bird taking flight from a tree.

Then I saw him. He walked calmly towards the wolves and put a hand out to them to show that he meant no harm. They sniffed it and came closer, deciding that he was of no threat to them. He then chucked something on the floor and the wolves dove at it, graciously accepting the gift. Food. He was feeding them. But why?

The question spun around my head for a while until he moved, interrupting my thoughts. He turned to face me where I was standing and his yellow eyes pierced the darkness. They looked extra creepy in the dark like this. There was something about those eyes that triggered a memory for some reason. He swiftly ran back inside the house and I decided to do the same.

~X~

I was reading my book silently when there was a knock on the door. I leapt out of my seat in fright and went to answer it. I was surprised to see the boy with the yellow eyes on the other side of my door.

"Hello, I saw that moved in yesterday", he said calmly.

"Yeah I did", I replied trying to match his level of calmness.

"Where did you move from?"

"Uh, Willow's Creek".

"That's a long way from here. Why did you come here of all places?" he said with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"I was looking for a fresh start," I replied trying not to sound intimidated.

He glared at me as though he knew there was more to it than that and said, "Ok then. My name is Sam, Sam Roth". He extended a hand out to me.

I shook it and said, "I'm Annabelle Thomas, but call me Belle."

"Well it was nice meeting you Belle. I have to go to work now so I'll see you around". He walked down the path and I closed the door.

There was something about the way that he spoke to me that made me think that he hadn't just come over for a chat. He was onto me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Sam's P.O.V**

On my way to work, my conversation with her spun around my head. From the moment I saw I just knew she wasn't a normal resident of Mercy Falls. The way she walked, her movements, her expressions, they all screamed different.

Could she be one of us? No-one just moves to a tiny town like this and chooses to live right near a forest that is home to killer wolves. She had to be.

I arrived at the book store and parked my car around the back alley as usual. I walked through the passage way of books and assumed my usual position at the front desk. Then I remembered something. Beck had told me a couple years ago that there was a pack of very viscous wolves in Willow's creek. Is that why she left? Did her pack banish her? And she came here to join our pack. There was something still niggling at me though. I felt like she had come here for a purpose. I needed to find out more about her.

Just as I started to plan exactly how I was going to do that, Isabel gracefully entered, making the bell on the door ring.

"Hey Sam, I thought I'd find you here", she said smoothly.

"Yeah, what did you want?" I replied genuinely intrigued. Isabel hardly ever spoke to me unless it was something important.

"Cole shifted".

"What? How?" Even though winter was over, it was far too cold for him to shift.

"I dunno, he came into my house this morning and he definitely wasn't hairy".

"Where is he now?"

"He's in my car".

"Ok, well you keep looking after him until I finish work".

"Can't he stay here with you? I have school." she whined.

Cole in a book store? This was not going to go well, but there was really no other choice. "Ok, fine".

Isabel smiled and dashed outside, causing the bell to ring again. This was going to be a long two hours. I slumped into my seat and closed my eyes slightly.

Next minute, I feel cold hand over my eyes and a loud voice saying, "Guess who Ringo?"

"Cole stop being a fool", I replied taking his hands off my face.

"Aww come one, it's just a joke. Lighten up".

"If you're going to stay with me, you've got to be quiet".

"Pfft, that's easy. I can do that" He jumped onto the couch, causing it to slide backwards into a shelf of books. Some of the toppled onto him and he put them back. "Umm, starting now".

"Since you're here I should tell you what you've missed" I sighed.

"Oh boy, Story time!" Cole said pretending to be excited.

"This is serious Cole".

"Lighten up Ringo".

It was pointless continuing that conversation so I cleared my throat and spoke, "A girl has moved into the house next to us. Her name is Annabelle".

"Oh is she hot?" Cole said becoming interested.

"That's not important. What is important though is that there is something strange about her. I think she might be one of us".

"A wolf? What makes you think that?"

"She suddenly arrives from a place called Willow's Creek where there is a known pack of wolves, she moves into a house right next to Boundary Wood, the home of our wolves. Don't you think that's all a little too convenient?"

"Well it could just be a coincidence".

"No, I sensed it as I soon as I saw her. I could smell wolf on her".

"You're so sure that you can read people, aren't you Sam?"

"I'm telling you Cole, she is a wolf and I will prove it".

"What about wolves?" a girl's voice said as she closed the door to the store.

"Oh Annabelle, umm nothing", I stammered.

"It's Belle. Who's your friend Sam?" she asked taking a step closer to us.

"I'm Cole", he said with his best flirting voice and put a hand out to her.

"Hi Cole", she said shaking it slowly.

"Cole, lives with me, but he slept in this morning so he couldn't come over with me to see you", I added quickly. "Anyway, can I help you?"

"Yea, I was looking for a book on wolves" she replied.

I gave Cole an 'I told you so look' and he mouthed back at me, why would she want a book on wolves if she is one? That was a good question. Of all this seemed to fit together a little too perfectly. I shrugged and led her to the section on animals.

As she searched the shelves for a book, Cole and I argued in whispers at the front of the store. I was sure I was onto her now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Belle's P.O.V**

I scanned the huge shelves for the book I was looking for. Apparently, this bookstore had the last copy of it. I needed this book; it would explain everything that's happening to me.

My stomach growled violently. Was it happening again or was it just anxiety? Well, I wasn't about to find out. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and concentrated on pushing it away. I clenched my fists as I put all my strength into stopping it. There was no way I could let it get me now, it hadn't happened for so long.

Suddenly a rush of pain swept over me as the urge grew stronger and I fell to the floor clenching my stomach. The pain was overbearing and I let out a small yelp of pain as I still fought against it. I dug my nails into the floor and got up onto my knees. I was just about to give into the pain when a tap on the shoulder snapped me back into reality.

"Belle, are you ok?" Sam said concerned. He knelt down beside me and turned my face to look at his.

"Huh, oh yea, I'm fine" I said unconvincingly and he raised his eyebrows.

"You don't look fine to me" he frowned.

"Oh it's nothing really. I pass out all the time" I assured him and stood up hastily to prove my point.

"Well ok then. Did you find what you were looking for?" Sam asked grabbing my shoulder as I swayed to the side.

"No I couldn't find it".

"Maybe I could help, what are you looking for?"

"Oh it's called, Wolf ology". He raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard the words leave my mouth, but then quickly set off to the back of the store.

"So, what was all that about?" Cole asked walking toward me.

"I told you it's no big deal".

"That looked like a big deal to me. You were convulsing" he said with a look of concern on his face.

"Oh well I'm perfectly fine, don't worry about me".

"Whatever you say. So why did you move here?" It was like he was trying to squeeze something out of me. Surely I hadn't done anything to make him suspicious.

Panicked, I lied, "Well I wanted to move out of home, away from my parents. This seemed like a nice, small town. Just the kind of thing I was looking for".

"Uhuh well you came to the right place because it's definitely small here". He paused for a bit as though he was thinking, "So do you have any special male friends".

Oh my God, was he really hitting on me? I just met him and before he was questioning me like I was a criminal. "Um no, but I'm happy being single at the moment". My polite way of telling him to piss off. What was this guy's problem?

"Well if you ever change your mind ju-" He began before being silenced by the return of Sam from the back of the store.

"Here it is" Sam said handing the thick book to me. "It's the last copy too, they stopped printing these".

"Well thanks Sam, I've gotta go" I said shoving the book into my bag and heading for the exit. He waved goodbye as I opened the door.

"See you later gorgeous" Cole said in a flirtatious tone. I rolled my eyes and waved at him.

Sam slapped him on the back of the head, "Shut up Cole".

I closed the door to the store glad to be out of there and headed for my car. A cool breeze ran through my body, making me shiver. I reached into my bag for my keys when my stomach let out another growl. I needed to get back home and read this book.

I flicked the pages angrily, desperately scanning through every word of the book. There's got to be something here that can help me, I thought in frustration. If there wasn't anything here, then I would never find anything. I started to get nervous as I reached the last chapter of the book, but then the title caught my eye. _Rare cases. _If it was going to be in the book it had to be there.

I felt excitement beginning to bubble up inside me as I was about to discover what was going on with me. Suddenly there it was, a case describing exactly what was happening to me. I was about to read it when my ears pricked up at a knock on the door. Damn, of all the times to have a visitor. I stuffed the book under the couch and went to answer the door.

To no surprise at all, when I swung the door open I found Cole and Sam standing at my doorstep. I sighed quietly to myself, not really in the mood for a chat.

"Well, we meet again" Cole said with a cheesy grin on his face. God, this guy was starting to get on my nerves. I ignored him and gestured for him and Sam to enter the house.

"So, is there something I can help you two with?" I asked wanting to get this over with so I could continue reading.

"Not really, we just came to make sure you were ok. You gave us quite a fright back at the bookstore" Sam said in a friendly, yet somehow also suspicious tone.

"Thanks, but I'm fine, really" I replied shooing them toward the door again. "Well see you later".

"We can't go yet. There was something we wanted to ask you" Sam said standing firmly in his spot.

"Um, ok. What is it?" I didn't really like where this was going. Were they on to me? There's no way they could have known. I mean, normal people don't believe in that sort of thing.

Sam took a deep breath, as if preparing himself for what he was going to say next. "What do you know about wolves?"

Uh oh. My stomach dropped at the question. I was done for, for sure. There was no way I was going to be able to keep lying to them like this. But I gave it a shot just the same, "Oh just the usual biological stuff, you know how it is" I laughed nervously.

Sam raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at Cole. Yea, they did not buy my story.

"But what have you heard about the wolves here?" Sam asked trying to corner me.

"Well there's a pretty big pack and there have been a few attacks" I replied not exactly lying but rather, not telling the whole truth instead.

Cole grunted loudly as if in frustration and said, "Ok, I've had enough of this so I'm just going to say it. We know you're a wolf. That's why you collapsed at the bookstore, you were going to shift". Sam glared at him and I stood there in shock. How was I going to answer that? This was certainly not going the way I had hoped it would.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys, It's been awhile right? Sorry about the wait and I hope some of you were excited to see the update yesterday. I've been meaning to continue this for ages but never got around to it until now. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, stuff really starts to get interesting here. **

**Chapter 5**

I was frozen, I continued to stare at the two boys standing in front of me. How could they have possibly known?

Sam sensed my fear at the question and said, "You can tell us you know. We understand more than you think".

Cole nodded in agreement and said, "Yea, I'm a wolf too and Sam used to be". Sam drove his elbow into Cole's side, clearly not happy with the amount of information he was giving out to me. "Oww!"

My mind latched onto that last part; Sam _used to _be a wolf. What did he mean by that? I thought there was no cure to it. My head was spinning what do I say? Do I even say anything at all? I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out, just a harsh cough.

Next thing I knew I was on the floor with my face pressed against the floorboards. I continued to cough violently and felt my whole body retch with each one. I felt a hot flush rise through my body and I knew what was coming. I ran down the hall to the bathroom and locked the door. I heard the two boys chasing after me and yelling something, but I couldn't make out the words. I knelt in front of the toilet and released what I had been holding back. I vomited before collapsing onto the tiles as my whole body began to convulse. I felt my limbs go stiff as my mind began to slip away.

Suddenly I sharp pain pierced through my head and my body stopped moving as it went limp. I lay there in the bathroom very still as I had realised what had happened. My mind had stopped it from happening again. I took a deep breath in and rested my head on my arms, exhausted from what my body had just been through. I really needed to read that book.

**Sam's P.O.V**

I pressed my ear to the bathroom door and heard the sound of Belle throwing up. I knocked on the door and asked, "Belle, are you alright in there?" Not to my surprise, there was no reply. I turned to Cole, "she's shifting" I stated rather bluntly.

He nodded, "we have to get in there and help her then. She'll hurt herself" he sounded rather concerned for once. He was right to be though, soon she would begin thrashing around as her body changed shape and there was no doubt a lot of stuff in there that could injure her.

"We're going to have to kick the door down then", I said pushing against it with all my strength. Suddenly loud crashing and grunting sounds were omitting from the bathroom.

"We're going to have to hurry up by the sounds of it" Cole said stepping away from the door, getting ready to knock it down. I stepped back with him and we both prepared ourselves for the impact of as we hit the door.

The door shook as it loosened from its hinges slightly, but it was clearly going to need another shove. We stepped back and once again rammed into the door with the combine force of our bodies and it fell to the floor with a large bang. Cole quickly jumped over the door and ran to Belle's side. She appeared to be passed out on the floor, still human though. Strange, I was sure she was going to shift with the way her body was reacting. I joined Cole by her side and he looked up at me, his brow creasing with worry.

"What happened? There's no way she could have stopped herself from shifting. It doesn't make sense" he said, waiting for me to come up with an answer.

"I know, I always thought there was something about her that was different to the other wolves and I bet it has something to do with what just happened", I paused thinking about this for a moment. "Take her into her bed".

Cole lifted up the sleeping girl gently and walked toward the room across the hall. He placed her down carefully, pulling the blankets of the bed around her. He quietly closed the door and turned to me, "So what now?"

I considered his question for a moment, "We need to wait until she's awake again and then we must ask her about what happened. For now, she needs to rest though", I replied and headed back toward the front door.

"Wait, we can't just leave her here by herself! What if something happens again?" Cole said.

"We're right next door, we'll be over as soon as something happens".

"No, I'll stay here and look after her", Cole replied rather stubbornly.

"Cole…" I gave him a rather stern look. I had a feeling this was not his only motivation to stay behind with Belle.

"What?" he said defensively.

"Do you really want to look after her or do you just want to spend more time perving on her?"

"Why would you even suggest I would do such a thing?!" he said in fake offence.

"Come one Cole, this is no time for joking around. If you stay promise me you will actually be looking after Belle" Sam said in a fatherly voice.

Cole rolled his eyes at me, putting a hand on his heart, "I solemnly swear that I will be a good boy". He was clearly unable to be serious.

I sighed, knowing this would go nowhere anyways. "Ok, I'll come over in a couple hours to see how things are going". With that opened the front door, feeling the cold, late afternoon breeze. I couldn't help but be a bit worried about leaving Cole alone with Belle, but I could tell that he genuinely cared about this girl for some reason.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed and I will definitely be updating more often now. Please leave any reviews with feedback good or bad :)**


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